Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Whirlpool rallies after raising full year profit outlookShares of appliance manufacturer Whirlpool (WHR) are rallying after the company raised its full year profit outlook. WHAT'S NEW: This morning, Whirlpool reported third quarter adjusted EPS of $2.72 and revenue of $4.7B. This compared to analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 and $4.74B, respectively. WHAT’S NOTABLE: The company raised its fiscal 2013 adjusted earnings view to $9.90-$10.10 from $9.50-$10.00, versus consensus of $9.97. The company’s full-year diluted earnings per share guidance was increased to $10.45-$10.65 compared to the previous range of $10.05-$10.55. The company now expects full-year 2013 U.S. industry unit shipments to increase by approximately 9%. PRICE ACTION: In late morning trading, Whirlpool rose about 9% to over $143 per share on nearly twice its average daily trading volume. OTHERS TO WATCH: Whirlpool's competitors in the appliance space include General Electric (GE), Samsung (SSNLF), Electrolux (ELUXY) and LG. Appliances retailers include Home Depot (HD), Lowe's (LOW), Sears (SHLD), Best Buy (BBY) and hhgregg (HGG).

On The Fly: Top stock stories at middayStocks on Wall Street were lower at midday as slides in a number of big name tech stocks following their earnings reports dominated the news flow and largely dictated the market's direction. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the FHFA home price index rose 0.4% to 222.8 in May, as expected. Existing home sales rose 3.2% to a 5.49M rate in June, better than the 0.9% increase that was expected. In Europe, the European Central Bank reportedly raised the cap on Greece's Emergency Liquidity Assistance by EUR900M to EUR90.4B, according to Bloomberg. COMPANY NEWS: The tech sector has been weak, headlined of course by a 5% pullback in shares of Apple (AAPL) after iPhone shipments in the just completed quarter and the company's sales forecast for the new quarter missed estimates. Adding to the negative tone in tech stocks, and contributing further to the decline in the Nasdaq, was the 3% drop seen in Microsoft (MSFT) shares after its quarterly report as well as Yahoo's (YHOO) 1% decline after its revenue outlook missed the consensus forecast... Shares of Boeing (BA) and Coca-Cola (KO) fared better than Dow peer Apple after each reported better than expected sales and profits, though neither stock was moving far from where they closed yesterday's trading. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Thoratec (THOR), which rose 10% after the company agreed to be acquired by St. Jude Medical (STJ) for $3.4 billion in cash, or $63.50 per share. St. Jude shares advanced fractionally after the deal, which had been foreshadowed by media reports yesterday, was announced. Also higher following their earnings reports were Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), which gained 10%, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), which advanced 8% and Whirlpool (WHR), which was up 6%. Among the noteworthy losers were a number of suppliers to Apple that declined in tandem with the tech giant after it reported a sequential drop in iPhone sales. Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Cirrus Logic (CRUS), Qorvo (QRVO) and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) were among the many semiconductor stocks that slid following Apple's report. Also sharply lower was antibody-based therapeutics maker XOMA (XOMA), which plunged more than 73% and was downgraded to Neutral at Piper Jaffray after a Phase III trial of its gevokizumab drug in patients with Behcet's disease uveitis did not meet its primary endpoint. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 82.22, or 0.46%, to 17,837.07, the Nasdaq was down 42.68, or 0.82%, to 5,165.44, and the S&P 500 was down 6.93, or 0.33%, to 2,112.28.

Whirlpool backs FY15 ongoing business EPS of $12.00-$13.00, consensus $12.28For the FY15, Whirlpool continues to expect to generate free cash flow of approximately $700M. Included in this guidance are restructuring cash outlays of up to $250M, capital spending of approximately $750M-$800M and U.S. pension contributions of approximately $72M.

Whirlpool technical comments before earningsThe key technical feature, best seen on a 2-year chart, is an active bearish head and shoulders top. If the news continues to be bearish, the pattern may continue to develop. The downside potential for the pattern is to the $135 area over time. If the news is a bullish surprise, the first important resistance is not until the neckline of the head and shoulders which is at $175. It would take a breakout above the neckline to halt the pattern, with next resistance at $178.84.

Samsung most popular smartphone maker in Q2, TrendForce saysSamsung (SSNLF) was the most popular smartphone maker in the second quarter, even though the smartphone market has started to slow down, according to data from research firm TrendForce. Smartphone shipments will grow 8.2% year over year in 2015, though that's down from the previously anticipated growth rate of 11.6%, the report says. Samsung has led in smartphone shipments with a second-quarter growth of 26.8%. However, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge's annual shipment forecast has been marked down repeatedly. TrendForce has also revised Samsung's annual smartphone shipments downwards to 45M units this year. As Chinese vendors are taking more shares of the low- to mid-range product market, Samsung's ability to reverse its fortune may hinge on the success of its Galaxy Note 5. If this device is able to attract consumers with upgraded specs and new features, then Samsung will avoid the high possibility of negative shipment growth for this year. Apple (AAPL) rode on the popularity of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in this year's first half and achieved a remarkably strong shipment result in the off-peak season. The next-generation iPhone due to be launched this year offers no major changes in appearance, but Apple has given the device a new A9 processor and upgraded its memory to 2GB LPDDR4 for the first time. These improvements along with the Force Touch module and a camera featuring a possible resolution of 12MP will give the next iPhone a huge boost. Thus, TrendForce's iPhone shipment forecast for this year continues to be very positive with a high growth of 15% upwards. Lenovo (LNVGY) has fallen to No. 6 in the global shipment ranking and is expected to see a 20%-30% decline in this year's shipments. Lenovo's market share did not double as anticipated after its takeover of Motorola in 2014. Moreover, Lenovo did not have a well-defined product positioning strategy and the brand faced strong competition from challengers offering lower-priced smartphone models.